You've read already a few reports on ScreenAnarchy about the 'Indian Oldboy', Sanjay Gupta's latest film Zinda. And anybody even marginally acquainted with that world knows in Bollywood the words 'homage', 'remake' and 'rip-off' are often interchangeable, good faith or not. The outline - a man facing 14 years of captivity for no known reason, then spending the next four days looking for the culprit - sounds exactly like a certain Oh Dae-Soo's fate, held captive for 15 years, released, and looking for his enemy for the following 5 days.
But it seems some people in Chungmuro are taking it seriously. 올드보이 (Oldboy) Producers Show East talked with the press today, saying that the only remake rights contract they ever signed was with Universal in the US, and with no one else, including India. The company announced that after looking at the finished product they will make their decision, which might have legal ramifications, if the film is as similar to Park Chan-Wook's hit as it's been claimed.
A PR from Show East announced: "We're looking at the similarities between the two films, but since we don't have a final product we can judge, we'll just have to investigate a little more into what kind of relation the films will have. Since we never experienced something like this, we couldn't really set up a concrete plan. But if we find out there's indeed a strong similarity between the two, it looks like we'll have to talk with our lawyers."
Director of the 'Indian Reservoir Dogs' Kaante, Sanjay Gupta is known as one of the most stylish filmmakers in Bollywood, but his latest project might finally get him into trouble for underestimating the often very subtle difference between 'homage' and 'rip-off'.
Via Star News